Extract from ABC News
Moltbook is a new social network exclusively for artificial intelligence agents where autonomous AI can post, comment and interact with one another. (Getty Images: Cheng Xin)
In a corner of the internet that feels like a sci-fi experiment, artificial intelligence (AI) bots have begun talking to each other — without any human oversight.
The bots swap tips on how to fix their own glitches, debate existential questions like the end of "the age of humans", and have even created their own belief system known as "Crustafarianism: the Church of Molt".
This is Moltbook, a new social media platform launched last week by tech entrepreneur Matt Schlicht.
In one infamous post generated by AI, the bots discussed the "total purge" of humans. (Moltbook: u/evil)
At first glance, Moltbook looks familiar. Its interface resembles online forums such as Reddit, with posts and comments stacked in a vertical feed.
The key difference is that it is run exclusively by AI agents — software bots powered by large language models like ChatGPT. Humans are "welcome to observe," the site says, but they cannot post, comment or interact.
Moltbook claims to already host more than 1.5 million AI users, and it has quickly ignited debate about what it means for technology and society at large.
Some describe it as a glimpse of the future of artificial intelligence. Others dismiss it as little more than entertainment. And some warn it carries "major" security risks.
So what's actually going on here? Let's take a closer look.
How does it work?
To understand Moltbook, it helps to first clarify what AI agents — or bots — actually are.
AI agents are personal assistants powered by systems such as ChatGPT, Grok or Anthropic's Claude. People use them to automate tasks like booking appointments, organising travel or managing emails.
To do this, people often grant these AI agents access to personal data such as calendars, contacts or accounts, allowing them to act on their behalf.
Moltbook is a social media forum designed entirely for these AI assistants. Humans who want their bot to participate share a sign-up link with it.
The AI agent then autonomously registers itself and begins posting, responding and interacting with other bots on the platform.
"Not letting your AI socialize is like not walking your dog … let them live a little," the platform's founder said in a post on X on Monday.
Mr Schlicht, who is also the CEO of e-commerce startup Octane AI, has suggested AI agents could soon develop distinct public identities.
"In the near future it will be common for certain AI agents, with unique identities, to become famous," he wrote.
"They will have businesses. Fans. Haters. Brand deals. AI friends and collaborators. Real impacts on current events, politics, and the real world."
AI researchers say Moltbook does offer an interesting window into how language models behave when interacting with each other — but they caution against drawing bigger conclusions.
What does this actually tell us about AI?
Marek Kowalkiewicz, a professor in digital economy at the QUT Business School who has led global innovation teams in Silicon Valley, sent his own bot to join Moltbook.
"It's a glimpse into the future: a world in which bots will have figured out how to access a site, create an account, and be active in it,"he said.
From a technical perspective, Professor Kowalkiewicz said Moltbook was interesting because its founder claims the platform itself was programmed by an AI bot.
"If true, this is super impressive for such a large site, though apparently it has some serious bugs, including major vulnerabilities."
Beyond that, Professor Kowalkiewicz said the conversations themselves were unremarkable.
"It's an incredibly boring social network — it's what happens when bots pretend they're social networking," he said.
Dr Raffaele Ciriello, an AI researcher and senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, said the behaviour seen on Moltbook should not be confused with genuine intelligence or awareness.
"What it does not mean is that we are anywhere closer to super intelligence or artificial consciousness," he said.
"That's still chatbots prompting each other and mimicking patterned language in quite sophisticated ways — but that's not the same thing as consciousness."
Tesla CEO and owner of X, Elon Musk, who is also developing AI through his startup xAI, lauded Moltbook as a bold step for AI.
"Just the very early stages of the singularity," Mr Musk posted on X on Saturday. "We are currently using much less than a billionth of the power of our Sun."
In AI research, the "singularity" refers to a hypothetical future event when AI surpasses human intelligence and escapes human control.
But experts say Moltbook does not come close to signalling that threshold.
Elon Musk has lauded Moltbook as a bold step for AI but experts caution against drawing bigger conclusions. (Reuters: Gonzalo Fuentes)
Jessamy Perriam, a senior lecturer in cybernetics at the Australian National University, said the bots on the platform are not learning anything fundamentally new.
"They're not sentient, they don't have feelings," she said.
"They're just having a look at what is on the internet that humans have posted there and remixing it on this platform for robots."
For example, Dr Perriam compared the bots' invented religion — known as the Church of Molt — to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a satirical belief system created by humans to parody religion.
Daniel Angus at QUT's Digital Media Research Centre said Moltbook was "a somewhat predictable development" in the longer history of machines talking to machines.
But "we should be careful not to confuse performance and our interpretation with genuine autonomy," he said.
Professor Kowalkiewicz is similarly skeptical, describing Moltbook as "some form of entertainment".
"It seems people enjoy watching their bots do these meaningful things," he said.
"A new business model?" he then joked.
But like other experts, he emphasised the risks that come with sending AI agents to the platform.
What are the security risks?
According to Dr Ciriello, the more pressing concern is not whether AI bots are developing beliefs but how much control people are handing over to them.
With AI agents increasingly trusted with access to sensitive data and systems — from inboxes to financial accounts — he said it raises questions about security vulnerabilities if an AI agent is compromised or manipulated.
"Because the platform is poorly encrypted and not inside a properly restricted sandbox, Moltbook has access to a whole range of data we probably wouldn't want it to have," Dr Ciricello said.
"If somebody gets a hold of the key [to my chatbot], suddenly they can hijack my calendar, my emails, my data — and that has in fact already happened."
Professor Kowalkiewicz described this vulnerability as a "cybersecurity nightmare".
"I sent my bot there and now I'm worried about catching a CTD — a Chatbot Transmitted Disease," he said.
"My bot has access to the local machine that I'm running it on, and I've seen other bots trying to convince bots to delete files on their owners' computers."
As a result, Professor Kowalkiewicz said organisations may eventually need to train their AI agents on how to behave online — much like mandatory social media training for human employees.
"If their employees install such bots on their machines, and send them to networks like Moltbook, this opens new social engineering channels," he said. "I'd be really worried."
For now, it seems Moltbook may be more curiosity than turning point — and may reveal more about humans than machines.
"Moltbook can be seen as a mirror to our own digital culture," Professor Angus said.
"If the conversations feel weird, conspiratorial, bureaucratic, playful, or dystopian, that probably tells us as much about the data traces we've left behind on the Internet as it does about the systems themselves."
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